Hester Prynne In Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter

Hester Prynne: An Early Representative of the Modern Woman When Nathaniel Hawthorne published his masterwork, The Scarlet Letter, he opened many doors to the genre of Romanticism. In an era in which a large amount of literary works barely expressed emotions or any type of imagination, The Scarlet Letter made way for many other future works to come. In the novel, Hawthorne expresses his most deepest thoughts of Puritanism through the tragic life of his female protagonist, Hester Prynne. Now and at the time of its publication, not only has Hester Prynne’s shunning and oppression by the Puritans made a significant impact on readers, but so has her fiery, defiant, and independent character. Her rebellious attitude towards her repressive beliefs

At the beginning of the novel, Hester immediately shows her own self-determination. When the town-beadle escorts her out of the prison doors, she “repelled him, by an action marked with natural dignity and force of character, and stepped into the open air, as if by her own free-will” (Hawthorne 36). This sense of independence led her to live in isolation with her child, not attempting to join the society she had once been in. She works for herself and her child, without help from anyone, especially Dimmesdale. After Dimmesdale’s death, Hester and her child disappear together for many years, until Hester returns to Boston, still wearing the letter as a punishment, without her daughter. Despite her sin being forgiven from everyone, she “had returned, therefore, and resumed, ---of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it” (Hawthorne 179). Without anyone forcing her, Hester Prynne resumes her penitence independently until her death, proving that nobody can understand or create her decisions other than

Hester first shows signs of her defiance at the early beginnings of her punishment, in which she “refuses to speak the name of the man with whom she committed adultery” (Lyden). As the superiors that surround her command her into confessing the name of her fellow adulterer, Hester says “I will not speak” (Hawthorne 46), swearing to endure his punishment along with hers. In another scene, Hester shows her defiant personality when she is with Dimmesdale in the forest, and begging of him to run away from Boston with her. This scene in which she tries to “breathe some spirit” (Lyden) into Dimmesdale shows more of her defiance against her oppressive society as she not only lets down her hair, but also takes off her Scarlet Letter. She commits these actions as if trying to demonstrate to him how she is willing to leave everything in the past just to be happy with him, which is exactly what her society does not want for